Imprisoned Cuban journalist is granted 24 hours at home

March 20 marked the sixth anniversary of the three-day 2003
crackdown on the independent Cuban press. That day, Oleivys García Echemendía was scheduled to visit her husband, imprisoned
Cuban journalist Pablo Pacheco Ávila, at 1 p.m. at the Morón prison in the
central province
of Ciego de Ávila.

Several hours before
the scheduled visit, however, prison authorities called García Echemendía at
home. They asked her to go to Morón immediately with a clean change of clothes
for her husband, she told CPJ. At the prison, García Echemendía was told her
husband had been granted a 24-hour permit to go home on account of his good
behavior.

In an interview with
U.S.-based Radio Martí, Pacheco Ávila said he had expected the worst--to be sent
to a prison away from his home as punishment. Instead, he was surprised with
the news that he would be sent home to his wife and child. At home, hundreds of
visitors showed up to see Pacheco Ávila, he said. He was also able to speak to
jailed reporters who are being held in different prisons, journalists who were
released on medical parole, and family members living in other parts of Cuba and
abroad.

The most touching
part of the Radio Martí interview was the journalist's description of the time
spent with his family. Throughout the night, Pacheco Ávila said, his 10-year-old
son woke him up repeatedly to ask if he was really there.

According to García
Echemendía, prison authorities said all imprisoned journalists would be granted
similar 24-hour permits to go home--depending on their behavior. García
Echemendía told CPJ this rare occurrence had given the families of 21 imprisoned
journalists new hope. "This could be the light at the end of the tunnel," she
said. "This could be a first sign of real change."

María Salazar-Ferro is CPJ’s Impunity Campaign and Journalist Assistance Program coordinator. A native of Bogotá, she studied at Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá, and graduated from the University of Virginia. She reports on exiled and missing journalists, and has represented CPJ on missions to Mexico and the Philippines, among others.